High schoolers show off inventions at expo

Groups of high school students from across northeastern Connecticut showed off their inventing and presentation skills on Thursday at the 10th annual High School Manufacturing Expo at Quinebaug Valley Community College.

Groups of high school students from across northeastern Connecticut showed off their inventing and presentation skills on Thursday at the 10th annual High School Manufacturing Expo at Quinebaug Valley Community College.

The event, sponsored by the Quinebaug Manufacturing Institute, brought together students from Woodstock Academy, Tourtellotte Memorial High School in Thompson, Putnam High School and Harvard H. Ellis Technical High School in Danielson. Each group showcased an item conceived and created by the students with help from a host business.

Putnam High School took the overall award for their SafeStraight holder, a block of heat-resistant plastic with a notched slot to cradle a hot hair-straightener. Ryan Stocks, an 18-year-old Putnam High senior, said the idea for the product came from a couple of directions.

“One girl we knew had complained about burn marks on her counter after setting a hot straightener down,” he said. “But part of the conversation we had was our concerns about fire safety in general.”

Amy Beth St. Martin, the school’s business teacher, said a massive house fire that killed two girls erupted in town in December, right about the time the students were brainstorming product ideas.

"Our video presentation actually showed a mock fire,” she said.

The students worked with Putnam Precision Molding/UniCorr Packaging to mold and package their product.

Woodstock Academy students, working with the Linemaster Switch Corporation, spent five months creating a vertical power strip that enables uses to remotely turn on and off plugged-in appliances. The small black tower features three outlets and two USB ports.

“It was about energy savings,” said Matthew Rich, 16, of Woodstock. “Normally, with a regular power strip, everything plugged into it goes on, or someone has to manually unplug an item. With this, you can keep everything plugged in, but only turn on the things you’re using.”

At the Tourtellotte table, students showed-off their “item finder,” a two-piece invention consisting of small adhesive tags and a hand-held receiver resembling a radar gun, built with help from ARS Products Inc.

“The tags, which can be placed on cell phones and other items, relay a signal back to the directional unit,” said Sean Rondeau, 17. “As you get closer to the item you’re looking for, a light pops on and gets stronger the closer you get.”

Ellis Tech students and the Foster Corporation built a “crutch-cup,” made up of a halved, inverted two-liter plastic bottle attached to a crutch.

“I saw a student walking around with a design like this at school,” said Ronnie Fierro, 17. “They’re 100 percent recyclable and easy to produce. This way, if you’re injured, you can still carry a phone, keys or a beverage.”